ROUND TABLE IN MOSCOW PRODUCED NO RESULTS

Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
June 6 2004

Commenting on the results of the round table held in Moscow, NKR
president Arkady Ghukassian mentioned that the parties could not
achieve a mutual understanding. “Practically no agreement was made
on any question. For different reasons Nagorni Karabakh, Armenia and
Azerbaijan refused the initial offers presented by the mediators. But
I think that this is a quite normal phenomenon for this format of
work because there are no traditions of relationships. In particular,
we have been outsiders in these processes for 5 years. I think it
takes time to work out a constructive basis for the negotiations. I
also think that the conference will go on and there may be new
suggestions. In any case Karabakh is for constructive work,” said
Arkady Ghukassian. Answering the question of activation of European
organizations in reference to the Karabakh problem Arkady Ghukassian
particularly mentioned that controversial information is received
from different European organizations. “Therefore we start from
the fact that there is the OSCE Minsk Group which specializes in the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict. We think that taking into account
its experience and efforts in the negotiations the Minsk Group is a
more prepared organization for the negotiations and therefore there
will hardly be any meaning in looking for new formats,” mentioned
the president of NKR. He emphasized that the Karabakh authorities
welcome the efforts of all the European organizations favouring
the work of the Minsk Group. “It is a different problem that these
organizations are not prepared enough to make any suggestion in
reference to the Karabakh settlement. We think this work needs to
be coordinated because any organization will hardly achieve success
alone,” emphasized Arkady Ghukassian.

AA.